CFP: DFW Panels—Mid-Atlantic Popular and American Culture Association

Mid-Atlantic Popular and American Culture Association

“David Foster Wallace”

Call for Proposals

November 8–10, 2018Lord Baltimore Hotel, Baltimore, MD

The American Studies Area of the Mid-Atlantic Popular and American Culture Association is seeking submissions of an interdisciplinary nature, focusing on the work of American author, David Foster Wallace (1962-2008). Wallace’s writing is situated at the intersections of literature, philosophy, television, cinema, popular culture, postmodernism, and social criticism. The author of the 1079-page masterpiece, Infinite Jest, Wallace explores the human experience through the ethos of the American dream, exposing and challenging its illusory seductions and their concomitant tendencies toward addiction and self-destruction, with a rare mixture of fearlessness and insight. His work thus continues to provide invaluable provocation on the questions of who we are, and who we can be.

Suggested topics/questions include, but are not limited to, the following:

What insights does Wallace’s work offer into the nature of addiction and recovery?

What is the role of masks in Wallace’s work?

In what ways does Wallace’s writing challenge or reinforce patriarchy?

Infinite Jest: A novel of affirmation or despair?

What purpose does religious language serve in Wallace’s writing?

How, if at all, does ‘E Unibus Pluram’ apply in the age of smartphones?

In what ways does Wallace’s work challenge/intersect with other American authors or philosophers?

Submission Details: Proposals of no more than 300 words must be submitted through the conference website. You will need to create a MAPACA web account (instructions can be found at the website).

Hard Deadline: Proposals must be submitted no later than Thursday, June 28th, 2018.